1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for therapeutically treating the human body and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for relieving discomfort and pain in the back, spine and neck of a human patient.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
More than seventy-five million Americans suffer from chronic back pain and a third of the entire population experiences some minor back pain. The most common approach to attempt to provide relief from such pain and related inflammation is to try to increase the flow of blood to the affected area by periodic applications of traction and relaxation. Devices, generally in the form of tables on which a patient lies, are used to apply tension to the human body to relieve pressure on bones, muscles, cartilage and the like. Massaging members, frequently in the form of rollers over which the patient's body moves, are included in some such devices along with means for applying heat and vibration. Exemplary of such devices is the treatment table described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,233 (Hill) which shows a table having a stationary support section and a movable adjacent section reciprocated by an electric motor to provide alternating periods of traction and relaxation between portions of the body supported by the two sections. Timers and limit switches are included to control duration and extent of tensioning, rollers protrude through the table to provide massaging pressures to the patient and heat and vibration can be applied for additional effect. Another approach, exemplified by a tilting traction table disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,604 (Nelson), fixedly supports the head and feet of a patient on a platform with the major trunk portion of the patient resting on a slidable platform. The table is inclined to allow gravity acting on the weight of the patient to apply tension, or traction, to the back and spine. Some such treatment tables provide a degree of relief from conditions and symptoms exacerbated by continual normal pressure, as for instance spasms, backaches and pinched nerves resulting from various spinal column irregularities; however, the duration and scope of relief leave something to be desired. After studying the matter I came to realize that during the traction stroke the pelvis tilts forward towards the feet causing extension of the lumbar spine. This increase in the lumbar lordosis causes compression of the posterior elements which can cause the disk material to extend further into the area carrying the nerves coming from the spinal column and that the relaxation portion of the tension-relaxation cycle produces no beneficial results. In fact, the Medical Profession has, for the most part, abandoned traction therapy and it is used mostly to immobilize a person with back problems to allow the body the heal itself.